//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: A Squire's Tail- Lunar Guards // by BBkat //------------------------------// Canterlot Castle, the jewel of Canterlot and home of the Celestial Princesses Luna and Celestia and of course the home and training grounds of the Royal Guard. These elite guardsponies were tasked with guarding not just the Princesses and Canterlot, but Equestria in times of need. Others were trained and took jobs as security guards for such places as the museums or observatories. Though Equestria was in a time of peace their services were still needed, most recently they had come into play during an invasion of Changelings in Canterlot. The attack had left them crippled and while no one was killed, many were injured in the attack and put out of commission. This meant an influx of new recruits and trainees and fresh new faces of ponies wishing to join the guard. Sun Chaser was one of these ponies. The off white colt trotted down the hall, blue eyes wide as he tried to contain his excitement. The ends of his rich blond mane ran unevenly along his neck, a few strands falling into his eyes every now and then. His short tail swished behind him happily. This had been a dream of his ever since his cutie mark had appeared, a shield with a wing stretched across it and now he was only steps from making it real. As he walked down the hall he had to fight to keep from skipping with excitement. Of course, compared to most of the other ponies and seasoned guards there, he was a gangly looking thing that looked as if he would break under the weight of armour and his magic was certainly far from being very strong either. He shifted his bags to keep them from falling off his back before continuing down the hall. The guard’s living quarters were in a large building separate from the rest of the castle so that visitors did not accidentally wander into them if they got lost, something that had happened many times prior to the split. Attached to them was access to the training grounds and gardens. These barracks were split into dining halls, and sleeping quarters (one section for the male guards and one for the female guards, though the latter was smaller in number), with many new recruits stuck into the same sleeping quarters. A light red glow encompassed his horn as he levitated the paper in front of him again so that he could read the room number he needed to find. Room 12 He sighed and tucked it away again, that was right at the end of the hall. He wasn’t sure what to expect in the room, would he have roommates or a room to himself? He wouldn’t have to wait very long as he neared the door with the number 12 written across the top. Behind the door he could hear voices chattering and laughing, at least two or three. The doorknob glowed as he opened the door and stuck his head inside carefully to look around. Almost right away the chattering stopped as several pairs of eyes turned to look at him. The speakers were three other colts, pegasus colts, and they all seemed to be studying the unicorn. A slate-grey coated pegasus with an ashen mane and tail looked down at him from the top of a bunk bed, while a cream coated one with a fiery mane and tail hung in the air, wings flapping slowly. The third was seated on the ground and had a sky blue coat and dark blue mane and tail with lighter highlights. The room itself was pretty plain, consisting of several bunk beds- the lack of ladders suggested they were made with pegasi in mind- a couple small dressers and plenty of space for them to store their things. For a few moments Chase was beginning to wonder if he’d accidentally walked into the wrong room. “Uhh, this is room 12 right?” he finally asked, after pulling out the paper to double check and hoping he hadn’t misread the door. He began to fidget on the spot nervously; being stared at and put on the spotlight like this had always made him extremely jittery and uncomfortable. “I was uh, told this was where I was to bunk.” They exchanged glances and muttered among themselves before the blue colt pointed towards the bottom bunk of one of the beds. “That’s yours. You can sleep there.” “Oh, uh thanks.” He levitated his bags off his back, dropping them onto the foot of the bed before the climbing onto the bed and lying down, he just wanted to sleep. The last few days had been anything but peaceful or restful for him. They had been holding what could only be described as tryouts to scout out new recruits, and being there at the crack of dawn was the first test-regular guard training always started at crack of dawn so they needed to know who was going to commit to getting up that early. The rest of the day was spent being evaluated and tested to see if they could even keep up with the sort of rigorous training the guards went through. There were probably hundreds of ponies that came to tryouts, and less than half would actually make the cut. Sun Chaser had been one of the lucky few. Of course his boundless excitement had kept him from sleeping and now it was all catching up to him. He sighed and closed his eyes, head resting on the pillow as he drifted off to sleep, his roommates having gone back to talking amongst themselves and ignoring him. A hoof bumped his shoulder, jolting him from his sleep with a start and a snort. “Hrmm, wassit? Was wrong?” he asked as he raised his head, blinking sleepily. It was the grey colt from earlier, wings folded tightly to his sides as he looked at Chase. “You gonna sleep all day or do you actually want to eat?” He stretched his legs out before rolling off the bed and onto the floor, landing on all fours. “It’s meal time already?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, you’ve been asleep for several hours. Come on, everyone else left for dinner already. If you don’t hurry you won’t get anything to eat.” Chase stiffened before making a beeline to the door, “Then what are we still waiting around here for, let’s get a move on.” “You’re just lucky I came back, the rest of the guys wanted to leave you here. And don’t tell them I woke you up, as far as anypony’s concerned I came back to turn the lights out and you woke up, got it?” He pointed a hoof, almost accusingly at the unicorn’s nose. “Uh, yeah, sure. Now can we eat I’m starving, I completely missed lunch.” --- With a full, happy belly the unicorn trotted back to his room, his roommates having gone back a while ago. They’d been pretty quiet, seemingly avoiding eye contact with him and saying nothing. He did however learn their names; the grey colt was Thunder Mane, the white colt was Sky Fire and the blue colt was Cloud Runner. They were all his age, which was why he’d been roomed with them. He still couldn’t figure out why they always looked at him with contempt though seeing how they barely new each other. Well, all but Thunder Mane, he looked as if he wanted to give him a chance but couldn’t say anything as his friends had already made up their minds. Chase wasn’t too worried though, they were sure to warm up to him eventually, at least he hoped they would. For now it back to the room for another nap. At least that had been what he’d hoped, he got no such luck, as the other three were wide-awake and sitting on the floor playing a board game. They looked up at him as he entered before going back to their game, the die rolling across the game board. “Ha, landed on your square, back to start!” said one of them as he set his piece upon an occupied square. Chase dropped onto his bed, levitating a book and quill from his bag and began writing, making notes about the day. It was an old habit from whenever he’d been away from home for long periods of time, like at camp. He hadn’t been writing long when the door creaked open and a new voice spoke. “Hey, everypony’s gathering in the common room, you’re free to join us if you want.” He looked over in time to see another unicorn colt like him in the doorway. Now Chase was curious, a gathering in the common room sounded like fun. He put his things away and hopped off the bed, curious to find out what was going on. Perhaps they were going to get to officially meet the other trainees. Most of them had only met in passing during the tryouts or at supper and their bunkmates were probably the only ones they’d had time to socialize with properly. --- The common room was a lively enough place and one of the few places both the female and male guards mingled freely. At the moment there were half a dozen or so of the senior guards relaxing, either in chairs or couches or in front of the fireplace at the other end of the room. There were also a number of the new recruits, including the unicorn that had come to Chase’s room, Chase and his bunkmates. They all seemed to be in their own little groups, chattering among themselves all around excited. “Wow, seems we got a whole lot of scrawny ones this year,” came a rather loud, boisterous voice from the doorway. Almost immediately all heads and ears turned to look at the speaker, a large unicorn colt. “They’re getting lax on who they let in.” Some of the older ponies rolled their eyes and went back to their business, paying the loudmouth no heed. “I dunno Iron Hoof, we were all like that once,” said a slightly smaller pony at his side. He snorted, “Speak for yourself. I was never a wimp like these foals.” Sun Chaser tried to block out the older pony but the more he spoke the harder it got till he had to speak, which he quickly regretted. “We’re not wimps,” he said with a huff. Iron Hoof turned to look at him and Chase shrank back, ears drooping nervously. “Oh really? That so tough guy?” he asked, looming over the colt. Chase gulped as he took a timid step back, fearful of what the colt might do. “Care to back up your words?” he asked. “H-how?” he asked, swallowing the lump in his throat. A malicious grin spread across his face, “Spend the whole night in the Lunar Guard wing. Shouldn’t be to hard should it?” Chase was silent for a few moments, trying to figure if he’d heard right. “The-the whole night?” “You heard me,” said the larger colt. “The whole night in the Night Guard’s wing.” The barracks, aside from being divided between mares and stallions, had two main, larger splits, the Lunar Guards and Regular Guards. Neither group ever really interacted with one, or even saw one another except during large events in which both had to attend. Chase moved on the spot nervously as he looked up at the large unicorn. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked, “W-what if I get caught?” “Then don’t get caught,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Obviously.” Chase took a deep breath, trying to keep his composure. “Well, can I take something with me?” he asked. “I mean, if I’m going to spend till sun up there I need something to pass the time right?” The older colt just waved his hoof dismissively, “Yeah fine whatever, but be quick about it.” Fighting to keep from tripping over his shaking legs Sun Chaser scrambled off back to his room, returning a few moments later with a bag slung over his shoulder. “O-ok I’m ready now.” The large grey stallion nodded his head before turning his head and pointing down the hall, “Ok, the entrance to the wing is that way, at the end of the hall take a right, it’s rather hard to miss.” Chase blinked in surprise and looked up at him, “Wait, you’re not going to come with me?” “You’re big pony aren’t you? Or are you too scared to walk the hall yourself?” asked the unicorn in a mocking tone, casting his friends a sideways look of stifled laughter. Chase scowled, he knew what they were implying and he didn’t like it. “No way,” he stomped his hoof firmly as he looked up at him. “I’ll do it. I’ll spend the whole night there, you wait and see.” He strode towards the common room door, putting on a brave face before he looked out. The hall seemed so much longer than it had before. The young colt gulped, swallowing the lump in his throat as he started down the hall. Walking down this hall didn’t worry him; he’d have to walk down it anyways to return to his room. No once he got past there he had to creep past the sleeping quarters of the higher-ranking guards, if he was caught creeping around he would be in very deep trouble. He flinched with every hoot-beat that sounded in the empty corridor, every sound a potential candidate to wake someone up. He stopped at the end of the hall and quickly glanced back at the common room doorway, they were still watching him, making sure he would go. One of them waved a hoof to keep him moving and he was sure they were laughing at him. With a deep breath he started moving again, taking each step painfully slow, at least until he got halfway down the hall, then he bolted. He wasn’t sure what made him do it, but he did, he bolted down the hall, trying to simultaneously run but move silently. He finally skidded to a stop and looked back down the hall, it was empty and silent. Chase heaved a sigh of relief, placing a hoof to his chest; he hadn’t woken anyone up. Thank Celestia for that. He looked around, finally taking time to observe his surroundings. Moonlight and a soft glow from the tip of his horn gave the unicorn enough light to see by. The hallway didn’t look much different from the others; stonewalls dotted with windows that looked out to the courtyards and training grounds, stone floors that caused his steps to echo loudly in the dead silence of the night. Chase looked out of the windows, this wouldn’t be a bad spot to spend the night, he could see the sky and with the stars and moon the darkness wasn’t too frightening. Unfortunately he couldn’t, the Night Guard’s wing was further on still. He felt his legs shake again, he’d only ever heard of the lunar ponies, Princess Luna’s personal guards. They had, if the stories were to be believed, large bat wings instead of feathered wings like most Pegasus and cat-slit eyes like Nightmare Moon herself, and fang-like teeth. That worried him the most; if they had fangs what did they eat? Did they really drink the blood of other ponies? Chase shuddered and shook his head; he didn’t want to find out and hoped he wouldn’t run into any of them. Tearing his gaze from the night sky he continued back down the hall, the glow from his horn soon the only thing providing him with light. He looked around as he walked and soon realized he was in a new hall, the start of the Lunar wing he assumed. The light from his horn was soon unneeded as he was greeted by the light from torches on the wall. “This doesn’t seem so bad,” he thought as he looked around. It looked rather homely and not very different from the wing of the building he was living in. “I wonder how far I need to go, I mean this is far enough right?” It was still technically the Lunar Guard’s wing after all. As he rounded a corner he found himself face to face with a pair of bright gold eyes with narrow cat-like pupils. “Who the heck are you?”